There was only one prop, but it had to be taken apart by hand.
While the guests were still pondering over the method of taking treasures from the cage, Jian Jing quietly walked out of the camera frame.
The room was all shot with pre-set infrared cameras, but that wouldn't work outdoors. It was already 11pm, pitch dark outside. To shoot the backyard section, the director's team had set up lights.
"What's the matter with Teacher Jian?" the PD asked her.
Jian Jing asked, "I'd like to know, what did this hotel use to look like?"
The PD was puzzled, "Why do you ask that?"
"No reason, can you tell me?" She pleaded in a low voice.
The property master next to them said, "I have pictures here, do you want to see?"
"That would be great, thanks." Jian Jing nodded.
The property master took out his iPad and showed her the stored photos, "Teacher Jian, why do you ask? Is there something wrong with our set design?"
"I was wondering about the room numbers." She scrolled through the photos, "Were the room numbers this random originally too?"
"Yes, we also found it very odd at the time, but it gave us inspiration later." The property master explained, "We only changed the furniture in the rooms, and tried to keep the wallpaper and flooring original."
Jian Jing frowned.
"Got it!" Zheng Keyan cheered.
She couldn't linger any longer, and hurried back to the set after a quick word of thanks.
With the 7 copper coins gathered, Han Bo also found a sealed jar of black dog's blood in the corner of the yard. The climax of the story was about to arrive.
"Is there a magic circle diagram in the lobby?" Cai Tonger asked, "I don't remember seeing one."
But Cao Yu was confident, "I guess it's behind the God of Wealth statue, it's too conspicuous."
He guessed right.
After moving the altar aside, there was a magic circle painted behind it.
There was a mechanism embedded in the wall, and as soon as the copper coins were placed on it, they got sucked in. At the same time, strokes of red appeared in the blank spaces, just the outlines without any coloring.
"Urgent as imperial decree." Cao Yu made out the words, reacting quickly, "Use the black dog's blood to trace these words."
Everyone respected their senior colleague, indicating for him to do it.
Cao Yu acted without hesitation, dipped a bit of the so-called black dog's blood (actually just blood plasma for filming), and carefully traced out the five written characters.
The moment the last stroke was completed, a fierce wind started howling.
From some unknown source (electric fans), a demonic wind swirled up from the ground, messing up everyone's carefully done hairstyles. At the same time, shrill ghostly wails rang out from all directions.
"You think this is enough to deal with me?" The candles flickered uncontrollably, the voice floating closer and farther, "When I was alive, I could kill them. Dead, I'm still the strongest! You can't escape."
Zheng Keyan: "Is this the boss? Did he kill all the other ghosts?"
Cai Tonger: "The magic circle didn't work? What do we do?"
Han Bo: "Sis Keyan, watch your step."
In the chaos, the walls started oozing large amounts of black viscous fluid, like leaking oil, shocking everyone.
But before they could react, the clear sound of marbles rolling suddenly came from upstairs. Countless marbles cascaded to the floor, crisp as notes from a zither.
Palm prints appeared on the walls, and wherever the red handprints went, the black oil avoided them.
The man's wild laughter abruptly turned cold, "Oh, you dare show up again? Heh, no one can be saved. This time, I will annihilate all of you!"
The voice faded away into silence.
"The people who died are helping us?" Han Bo asked.
Cao Yu hesitated slightly before saying, "I guess so."
"Something fell from the lamp." Jiang BaiYan carefully stepped forward and picked up what had fallen to the floor.
It was a brocade bag, containing a string of prayer beads and a note.
The note read: When one dies with injustice, they become vengeful spirits. And above vengeful spirits, there are evil ghosts. Evil ghosts feed on other ghosts, becoming extremely powerful and difficult to kill. They can only be suppressed. These prayer beads belonged to an enlightened high monk, and can suppress evil ghosts. Place them on the remains, and the evil can be sealed for ten years.
It was signed by a monk from a temple, the same one the boss had gone to for help but was rejected.
Everyone understood, "We need to find the boss's remains."
"Any clues on where to look?"
Just as they spoke, "Bang", "Thud", "Crackle", loud crashing sounds rang out in succession.
The door on the right suddenly opened on its own, followed by the restaurant door. The decorative paintings hanging in the hallway fell one after another.
"Ah!" Jiang BaiYan exclaimed, "Are they showing us the way?"
"Let's go take a look." Jian Jing's mind was filled with thoughts of ending the shoot quickly, and she inadvertently walked to the front.
Following the cues, they passed through the restaurant corridor into the storage room. It was almost completely empty, with just a few cans and sanitary products left on the shelves.
On the dusty floor were a pair of very clear footprints.
She wiped away the dust, and unsurprisingly found a removable floor panel, also with a password hint.
St*r
Evi*
Priso*
Hot*l
*orpse
A*gust
It was a six digit lock.
The password was 131029.
Jian Jing unlocked it smoothly.
By then, the others had just barely caught up.
--
After airing:
Comment 1: Did I miss it? How did she unlock it so suddenly??
Comment 2: Guests with confused looks +1
Comment 3: Can someone explain how it just ended so abruptly?
Comment 4: This is the true speed of our girl, I'm a fan!
Comment 5: The celebs tried their best, but I'm still picking the girl
Comment 6: This is just a teaser, stay tuned...
...
In the discussion, the show inserted some clips from later.
After filming ended, Jiang BaiYan asked Jian Jing, "Teacher Jian Jing, how did you crack the basement password?"
"The English letters were abbreviations for three elements," Jian Jing answered. "AL is aluminum, number 13 on the periodic table. NE is neon, number 10. CU is copper, number 29."
Jiang BaiYan looked utterly defeated, "How could anyone get that?"
"There was a notebook in Room 202's backpack, the periodic table was on the last page. You could've solved it with that too," Jian Jing said.
Editing inserted a cartoon finger snap: bingo
And replayed the video from Room 202, pointing out the notebook's location.
--
She had solved the challenge before the others even arrived. Positively framed, it showed diligence and initiative. But some instigators could easily spin it as showing off and stealing the limelight without team spirit.
The guests were all a bit stunned.
Zheng Keyan spoke first, laughing as she said, "Jian Jing is so capable, we just coasted to victory today."
If Jian Jing had paid a little more attention, she would've noticed the big change in Zheng Keyan's attitude, clearly showing appreciation now. But her mind was preoccupied, and she answered offhandedly, "The password wasn't hard."
That response wasn't appropriate.
Jiang BaiYan reacted swiftly, dramatically crouching down to grab her pants leg, hinting to her, "I thought it was really difficult. Teacher, do you need any leg decorations?"
Jian Jing was jolted, and quickly tried to remedy it, "There were hints earlier."
By this time filming had gone over six hours already. The others were tired, and cooperatively moved the plot forward, "Is the boss downstairs?"
"I'll go down first." Han Bo earned a lot of goodwill with his "lead by example" persona. He leapt down the stairs, and soon called up, "Come down, there are remains here."
The others climbed down the stairs one by one, and found the skeleton sprawled at the bottom of the steps.
Based on the position and direction of the remains, Cao Yu deduced, "Looks like he fell down the stairs and died."
Zheng Keyan: "We just need to put the prayer beads on him, right?"
"Let's do it."
Jiang BaiYan handed the prayer beads to Cai Tonger. She carefully crouched down and placed the beads on the chest of the skeleton.
The beads lit up with a warm glow, and a nameless (electric fan) wind rose up. The lightbulb overhead swayed and creaked back and forth.
"No!!" The boss let out an agonized scream, viciously leaving a parting threat, "Don't think this is the end, just you wait!!"
The echoing voice faded into the distance.
Click, the lights came on.
Fireworks burst overhead, raining confetti and streamers.
"Yay, huge success!" The guests cooperated seamlessly, high fiving and hugging each other.
Jian Jing's gaze still lingered on the remains, reacting slowly, her acting skills clearly needing more work.
Luckily Jiang BaiYan kept an eye on her, immediately turning to give her a hug, whispering, "Teacher Jian Jing, smile."
Jian Jing reflexively showed a smile.
Jiang BaiYan let go, and went to hug Han Bo next to him, "We're awesome."
Han Bo was a bit surprised, but smoothly went along, (pretending to) heartily pat his back, "Good work, good work."
Cao Yu: "Let's head out."
The group left the basement, walking to the front door, cheering and successfully wrapping up filming.
And after the director called "Cut!", the guests quickly dialed down the joy, letting assistants drape coats over them and pass water, clear fatigue showing on their faces.
It was already midnight now.
"Great work everyone, take a break, we still need to film an interview." The director said.
"Sis Keyan, touch up your makeup."
"Tonger, want coffee?"
"Mr. Cao, please rest here."
Everyone busied themselves on site.
But Jian Jing couldn't be bothered with all that, finding the PD, "I want to know the history of this hotel."
The PD was startled, hesitating, "What aspects are you asking about?"
"Rumors, why did you use the Big Dipper theme?" she asked.
The PD said, "There was originally a Big Dipper chart in the living room, we thought it was interesting."
"Who was the boss?"
The PD was confused and puzzled, but maintained a "don't offend the guests" attitude, and still answered, "The boss went missing, he was never found. Later he was declared dead, and the property went to a distant relative."
Jian Jing took out the marble from her pocket, "What about this?"
The property master cut in, "I picked that up at the door, thought it was interesting, so just used it directly."
She fell silent.
"Teacher Jian Jing, want some iced coffee?" Jiang BaiYan came over with a chilled coffee bottle, and casually asked, "What are you guys talking about?"
The PD said, "Teacher Jian is very curious about this hotel's history."
Jiang BaiYan looked at her quizzically.
Jian Jing waved her hand and walked straight to the director, asking, "I want to go back in and take another look, I may damage some of the props a little - I'll compensate for it, is that okay?"
The director asked in puzzlement, "Why?"
"There's something strange about this inn." Jian Jing took out the map of the second floor she had drawn earlier, "The rooms from 201 to 207 are arranged exactly in the pattern of the Big Dipper."
She connected the room numbers in order, and it was indeed spoon-shaped.
The director looked intrigued, "It really is."
"This inn is unusual, I want to take a closer look, is that okay?" she asked again.
The director stroked his chin, seeming to have thought of something, and suddenly said, "Okay, but we'll follow and film it."
"Sure." She didn't mind, having it on camera could be very useful.
The director beckoned for the follow PD to come over and whispered something.
The PD nodded, "Does Teacher Jian want to go now?"
"Yes."
Jian Jing returned to the second floor and entered room 206.
She had triggered a mission here earlier, proving this room must have something going on.
As soon as she entered, the beads in her pocket turned extremely cold, almost freezing her skin. When she reached for it, the bead came alive and slipped through her fingers, falling to the ground with a crisp ding-dong.
Jian Jing hurried to pick it up, but halfway through the action she suddenly stopped, lost in thought.
She saw the bead rolling on the ground, sliding to a stop by the wall.
She picked it up again and put it down steadily on the floor.
Yet the bead kept rolling.
"The floor here seems uneven," the PD and cameraman realized after watching for a while.
Jian Jing turned and asked, "Could you help me move the bed?"
The PD and cameraman came over to help lift the bed. The floor underneath was a newer color, contrasting sharply with the rest of the room.
"Was this also a bed?" Jian Jing asked.
The PD nodded, "We tried to recreate everything as it was."
Jian Jing acknowledged and knelt down on the floor to feel around.
She didn't know if it was an illusion or some other reason, but she felt one part of the floor was extremely cold to the touch, as if she had touched a block of ice.
And it was the hottest time of August now.